When musician Olive Klug received an unexpected email from Artistree Community Arts Center earlier this year, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. The 27-year-old singer-songwriter was living between a van and various sublets while touring constantly. The invitation to spend a month in South Pomfret, Vt, as musician-in-residence offered both creative challenge and geographic respite.
The residency has pushed Klug far outside their usual creative process. Known for lyric-driven singer-songwriter work that draws from Americana and pop influences, they’ve been tasked with creating purely instrumental guitar pieces to underscore Edward Albee’s acclaimed play “Three Tall Women.”
“I usually write songs kind of lyrically first, and kind of use the guitar part to support whatever lyrics I’m writing,” Klug said. “But this has been really interesting because I’ve been only doing acoustic guitar, so I’ve had to figure out how to represent the storyline, the emotions of the characters, with just instrumental music.”
The challenge has been both technical and emotional. Albee’s play, which explores aging through three versions of the same woman at different life stages, has prompted deep reflection for Klug. “It’s very sad, to be honest,” they said. “It definitely prompts some existential thinking, because it’s about aging and about coming to the end of your life. I don’t think about being in my 80s or 90s very often. So, this prompted me to think about that, prompted me to think about my parents aging.”
Klug’s nomadic lifestyle reflects a broader pattern of geographic exploration that has shaped their artistic evolution. Their movement serves a dual purpose: satisfying wanderlust while searching for a permanent home base. The Green Mountain State has made a particularly strong impression on the West Coast native. “It kind of feels like a different world than the rest of the country,” they observed. “There’s so few fast food places, so few big box stores. It feels like capitalism has not infiltrated Vermont as it has other places.”
Klug recently released their second album, entitled “Lost Dog,” after spending most of 2024 working with a Nashville-based producer. Looking ahead, Klug will perform at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, Mass., and will present a free outdoor concert of their own music at Artistree on June 11 at 6:30 p.m., where they’ll also sell newly pressed vinyl records.
For more on this, please see our June 5 edition of the Vermont Standard.
